1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a disc recording/reproducing apparatus having the function of a disc exchanging function. More particularly, it relates to a disc recording/reproducing apparatus in which one of plural trays in a container, holding a disc, is pulled out and held even after movement to a recording/reproducing unit, with the holding of the disc being released after the tray is restored from the recording/reproducing unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has hitherto been used a disc recording/reproducing apparatus having the disc exchanging function of selectively pulling out plural disc trays housed in a housing section and loading a disc set on a disc tray on a recording/reproducing unit for recording and/or reproducing information signals.
The disc recording/reproducing apparatus, having the disc exchanging function, has a disc housing section in which are stacked plural disc trays each having an optical disc as recording medium set thereon, a recording and/or reproducing unit for recording and/or reproducing information signals on or from an optical disc as a recording medium set on the disc tray, a pull-out mechanism for pulling out one of the disc trays housed in the disc housing section and a lift mechanism for lifting and lowering the recording and/or reproducing unit to a position in register with the position housing the disc tray.
For recording and/or reproducing information signals on or from an optical disc housed in the housing section by the present disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus, one of the disc trays housed in the tray housing unit is selected. After disc tray selection, the recording and/or reproducing unit is uplifted or lowered to a position in register with the position of housing the disc tray. The pull-out mechanism then starts its operation to pull out the selected disc from the housing section to move it towards the recording and/or reproducing unit. The operation of loading the optical disc as set on the disc tray to a rotating/driving section of the recording and/or reproducing unit is then carried out, at the same time as the disc tray is moved towards the recording and/or reproducing unit. The optical disc is clamped on the disc table constituting a disc rotating operating mechanism to enable the optical disc to be rotated in unison with the disc table. The information signals are recorded and/or reproduced on or from the optical disc by driving the recording and/or reproducing means, such as optical pickup device.
After completion of the recording and/or reproduction of the information signals on or from the selected optical disc, the pull-out mechanism is actuated for setting the optical disc loaded on the recording and/or reproducing unit on the disc tray to restore the disc tray and the optical disc set thereon into the original housing position in the housing section.
The disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus having the disc exchange function is configured so that, by relative movement between the housing unit housing, the disc tray and/or the recording and/or reproducing unit, the selected one of disc trays housed in the housing section is brought into registration with the recording and/or reproducing unit to pull out the selected disc tray towards the recording and/or reproducing unit to load the disc set on the disc tray on the recording and/or reproducing unit to effect recording and/or reproduction of information signals.
For reliably loading the disc set on the selected disc tray, the relative position between the selected disc tray and the recording and/or reproducing unit needs to be set correctly.